


Whatever It Is It Can't Be Named

by skytramp



Category: Great Men Academy สุภาพบุรุษสุดที่เลิฟ (TV)
Genre: Background Rose/Vier, Bittersweet Ending, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Pre-Canon, Tangmo and Vier's 1st Year at GMA, Vier's Problems™
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:28:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28846080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skytramp/pseuds/skytramp
Summary: They become friends quickly, in the way that two people thrust into a new situation knowing no one else often do. They spend classes together, meals together, evenings together, Tangmo even watches when Vier does his (excessive) morning workouts. They learn they are both good students, top of their class, but while Tangmo is sneakily letting other classmates copy his work, Vier is studying hard, memorizing all the material he can. Tangmo isn’t really sure when his budding best-friendship turns into something more to him.Tangmo has his first crush, it just happens to be on his new best friend and he's not really sure what the hell he's going to do about it.
Relationships: Tangmo/Vier (Great Men Academy)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 4





	Whatever It Is It Can't Be Named

It’s Tangmo’s first day at Great Men Academy and he feels stiff, if handsome, in his new uniform. He’s surrounded by the others of his year, various boys all crowded haphazardly around the front of the outdoor stage. On the stage there is a statue, and he’s not quite sure why it’s there, but he’s sure he’s not the only one a little too distracted by its boobs. When the statue speaks, a glowing light flickering from its forehead, he gasps in surprise to learn this is Principal Venus, the school’s Principal. Tangmo looks around to see the other students, and nearly all are as surprised as he is by this fact. Alone and unfazed is a boy with brown hair hanging into his eyes and a stern expression. Tangmo doesn’t know what it is about this boy that makes him seem so confident in the face of all the newness of starting secondary school, but he’s gonna figure that out after he makes this boy his friend. 

During the Principal’s speech, of which Tangmo hears about 30%, he steps through the crowd until he’s next to the boy. Shoulder to shoulder, he reaches his hand across his body for a handshake. “I’m Tangmo. Who are you?” The boy simply raises his eyebrows, but he does return Tangmo’s handshake before looking back towards the Principal until the end of the ceremony. 

They stay together most of the day, though it’s mostly this silent boy traveling where he wants to and Tangmo tagging along. It’s not until they get assigned to the same dorm room that he learns the boy’s name is Vier, and it’s not until they get in their beds that night that Tangmo realizes he was only able to make Vier smile _twice_ , in an entire day of attempts. Somehow, it still feels like a victory. 

They become friends quickly, in the way that two people thrust into a new situation knowing no one else often do. They spend classes together, meals together, evenings together, Tangmo even watches when Vier does his (excessive) morning workouts. They learn they are both good students, top of their class, but while Tangmo is sneakily letting other classmates copy his work, Vier is studying hard, memorizing all the material he can. Tangmo isn’t really sure when his budding best-friendship turns into something more to him. 

It comes on slowly, a fondness, sharing a smile that Tangmo feels in the pit of his stomach, a lingering glance in Vier’s direction, everything slowly adding up. Tangmo eventually dreams of him, and can find no escape from this confusing feeling even in his sleep. He decides to make a list, to write everything down just once just so he can understand what it all means. He finds a journal, something his mom had tucked into his bag in hopes that he would use it to keep organized (he hasn’t), and props it up on his knee to write this all down until it means something. 

In the end it only takes him two pages, and the conclusion, circled for emphasis, is that this must be what a crush feels like, so he guesses he must like boys, but more specifically, he likes Vier… like _that_. The journal, like many other things once important but now forgotten, ends up in a stack of school books near his bed, and he doesn’t use it again.

Only a week after Tangmo’s personal revelation, he hears about Rose for the first time. A girl that Vier met when he’d gone into town to go shopping, Rose was apparently older, gorgeous, and for some reason interested in Vier. Her school is nearby, and it doesn’t take long for the first time Tangmo meets her in person. She’s as pretty as Vier has described her, and she seems nice. Mostly, Tangmo notices the way Vier looks at her, and how often he smiles around her. Ten times in an hour, a new record. It doesn’t take long for their dating to become a more serious relationship, and Tangmo steps to the sidelines. He knows he has a crush, but he knows just as well that Vier is happy with Rose, and it just makes sense to him that if Vier is happy, that’s how he wants it to be, he doesn’t need to look for anything else. 

In the weeks that follow Tangmo finds the intense feelings that once felt all consuming, slowly cooling to a simmer. Vier is his best friend, and he has a girlfriend, and Tangmo still spends nearly every waking minute with him, this is definitely all that he needs to be happy, and it feels true. 

Months pass in relative happiness, Tangmo learns more about the requirements for The Greatest Competition as it approaches and figures out just why Vier has been training so hard. Tangmo joins him now, going on about half Vier’s runs with him, and actually doing all the homework that they’re assigned. It’s during this busy time that Vier comes home in tears. Tangmo doesn’t know how to act at first, and it takes more than an hour to get the full story out of him, but he learns that Rose broke up with Vier, the details are hazy, and that Vier is very, _very_ , upset about it. 

Vier doesn’t leave the dorm for a week. He misses his classes, his training, and no amount of Tangmo’s expletive-riddled descriptions of Rose can get him to even crack one of his patented grimace-half-smiles. Tangmo brings Vier his homework and his meals, and at least once a day reminds him to take a shower. Vier doesn’t speak, but he thanks Tangmo with silent eye contact and a softening of his brow that makes the waning spark of Tangmo’s crush reignite. Tangmo smiles and says “You’re welcome.” 

After the first week Vier gets himself together. Tangmo can still see how sad he is, but he throws himself into training for The Greatest Competition harder than ever, as if making up for lost time. 

In the brief time between Vier’s training routine and bed, Tangmo finds a moment to ask him a question. 

“Why is it that you’re trying so hard to join the tournament anyway?” He asks, crawling under his blankets. 

“I have to prove to myself that I can win it.” Vier is at his desk, school book still open, though he promised he would stop. He turns back towards Tangmo after he speaks. 

“You’ve got three years here, don’t the upperclassmen usually win it anyway?” Tangmo asks. “Is it even possible?” 

Vier nods, and crosses over to sit on the edge of his bed before speaking. “It’s possible.” He says. “Haven’t you heard of the student who won it three years in a row?” Vier watches him closely with an expression Tangmo can’t quite decipher. 

“No,” he replies truthfully, “should I have?” 

“Not really.” Vier replies and shrugs his shoulders as he gets into bed and flips off the light. “He’s not important, it just means that it’s possible. So I have to do it.” 

A silence between them falls in the brief moments after the room goes dark, and Tangmo lets Vier’s determination sit with him. “I’ll be with you then.” He says to the darkness. “Hey, has anybody ever gotten second place three times in a row?” Tangmo laughs and he can hear a little huff of Vier’s breath across the space between them. He knows he means it though. He will do anything it takes to be what Vier needs him to be. If Vier wants to win, Tangmo will make damn sure that he wins. 

It’s two weeks before finals when Vier doesn’t show up for dinner. Tangmo goes to look for him, searching all of his favorite training and studying spots, knowing that Vier wouldn’t be doing anything else this close to the tournament. He finds Vier in the field behind the dorms, passed out in the grass. Tangmo runs to him, checking first for breathing with his hand shaking as he holds it below Vier’s nose. He lets out a sigh of relief when he feels the signs of life. Next he looks for injuries, but sees nothing beyond a scuffed grass stain on Vier’s shoulder where he must’ve fell. Vier makes quiet sounds that are something between protest and sleep, but he doesn’t wake when Tangmo lifts him, holding him in his arms like something precious. 

Tangmo’s own bed is nearest the door and that’s where he lays Vier once they arrive. He removes Vier’s shoes and props him up on pillows to make it easier to hold the water bottle to his lips. Vier comes to a bleary consciousness at the taste of the water, but fades in and out while Tangmo slowly tilts the bottle for him over and over. When Vier can keep his eyes open for more than a few seconds Tangmo turns to him. 

“What the hell did you do, Vier?” He asks, and it takes all of his self control to not sound angry. He keeps his voice soft, and winces a little at how concerned he sounds. 

Vier just shakes his head in response and Tangmo wishes he could slap him on the back of the head for his idiocy. 

“Training doesn’t matter if you’re dead, you know that right?” Tangmo continues. “Can’t win if you’re dead?” 

“I’m not dead.” Vier replies, and at hearing the scratchiness of his voice Tangmo holds the water for him again. 

“This time.” Tangmo says, sitting in the small space alongside Vier in the bed. “You realize I saved your ass by carrying you here, right? And now I’m feeding you like a baby. You probably can’t even walk right now.” 

Vier, ever defiant, tries to sit up, pushing away from the bed. Tangmo stops him easily with a hand on his chest. Vier groans and flops back against the pillows with a pouty expression that Tangmo can’t help but laugh at. The use of energy seems to tire out Vier, and he closes his eyes again, lapsing back into a half sleep.

“Told you.” Tangmo replies quietly, and eases himself out of the bed. 

Tangmo makes a quick run to the restroom to fill a basin with lukewarm water, and returns to find Vier still asleep. Tangmo wrings out the towel until it no longer is dripping, and slowly dabs it against Vier’s neck. Vier shivers slightly at the first touch, but doesn’t rouse as Tangmo rubs the sweat and dirt first from his neck, then down both arms, and finally his legs. Vier twitches as the towel goes over his kneecaps and Tangmo wonders idly if Vier is ticklish there. Once he’s as clean as Tangmo can manage, Tangmo loosens the covers and pulls them up over Vier and also himself, where he sits beside him on the bed. It takes some adjustment until Vier is comfortably resting with Tangmo’s arm around his shoulder, but he finds a position that works and tries not to think about how his heart is beating. It’s an indulgence, Tangmo thinks, to allow himself to be this close to Vier, but the way that Vier’s brows release their tension and he sighs against Tangmo’s shoulder makes everything feel worth it. 

Tangmo leans his face towards him in that moment and places a soft kiss right between Vier’s eyebrows and smiles down at him. It doesn’t take long for Tangmo to join Vier in sleep. 

The next morning is the first time in Tangmo’s time knowing Vier that Vier isn’t already awake and out of the room when Tangmo wakes up. He’s still asleep, curled on his side facing away from Tangmo but laying on his arm. It’s early, Tangmo can tell by the light coming in through the window, and he holds his breath while pulling his arm free of Vier’s weight. 

By the time Vier does wake up Tangmo has gotten dressed and grabbed a meal for them and brought it back to the room. “Morning.” Tangmo says in Vier’s direction, and receives half a groan in response. 

“What time is it?” Vier asks after a few moments.

Tangmo glances at his watch. “10:45.” 

Vier tries to sit bolt upright at the knowledge but his body seems to react slower than he would want and by the time he’s fully sitting up he’s lost his fervor. “Why didn’t you wake me up?” 

“You need to rest, I figured I’d give myself more time before I had to fight you about it.” Tangmo shrugs and hands Vier a bowl of warm rice porridge and a spoon. “Eat this, and drink more water, unless you want me to take you to the nurse.” 

Vier pulls his legs free of the tangled blanket and sits cross legged on the bed before accepting the bowl from Tangmo. He begins eating without complaint. 

It’s less of a struggle than Tangmo thought it would be to convince Vier to rest throughout the day. They sit side by side on Tangmo’s bed, trading wins in phone games until the late afternoon light finds them sleepy enough that they both drift off for a nap. 

When Tangmo wakes up he’s not sure what time it is, only that it’s not morning, and the first thing he sees when he opens his eyes is Vier, sitting on the edge of his bed with a notebook open on his lap. Tangmo gets up as quick as he can to snatch the journal from Vier’s hands. He scuttles backwards across the bed to put some distance between him and Vier and hugs the journal to his chest. 

“What is that?” Vier asks.

“What’s what?” Tangmo asks, and desperately attempts to shove the journal under the edge of the loose blanket. 

“Is that your diary or something?” Vier asks. “You only wrote on two pages.” 

Tangmo tries to shrug but knows he must look ridiculous. “I’m bad at following through.” 

Vier doesn’t respond to that, and Tangmo knows he’s backed into a corner now. They sit in silence for a few seconds too long before Vier speaks.

“Was what you wrote true?” His voice is quiet, and Tangmo wants to run away. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Tangmo insists. He knows it sounds fake, he’s not even trying to lie, he just can’t conceive of telling the truth.

Vier squints at that, and scoots just a bit closer to where Tangmo is sitting frozen on the bed. Tangmo tries to scoot back again but this time Vier grabs his forearm and holds fast. “Are you only nice to me because you have a crush on me?” 

Tangmo freezes, he doesn’t even breathe. Vier’s hand is still holding his forearm tight enough that it’s starting to hurt but Tangmo can’t manage to care at the moment. He tries a smile and hopes it doesn’t look too fake. “You think I’m nice?” He forces an uncomfortable laugh. “You’re my friend, I’m just doing what friends do.” 

Vier pulls Tangmo by his arm and leverages himself forward in one quick movement and kisses Tangmo on the mouth. Tangmo isn’t sure, at first, what he’s feeling, and their mouths press uncomfortably hard together before Vier softens. Tangmo has never done this before, and it's all he can do to try and kiss back in the way that he’s supposed to, while his heart beats all the way up in his throat. He’s not putting any thoughts together other than wanting to yell and jump up and down but he _can’t_ do that because _Vier is kissing him_. 

When Vier pulls back, and it’s a good thing he does because Tangmo would not have been able to make that choice, he only pulls back far enough to look Tangmo in the eyes. Tangmo is smiling, and now that he’s no longer kissing, he can feel that Vier’s hand never moved from his arm. 

“Was that… good enough for you?” Vier asks.

Tangmo blinks in confusion and leans back a few inches. “What?” 

Vier lets go of Tangmo’s arm and looks away. “Nothing.” He scoots back towards the edge of the bed where he had been sitting previously. 

Tangmo is curious now, and he’s not going to let Vier get away that easily. “Why did you kiss me?” 

Vier stares in the direction of the mostly dark window where the sun is setting in the distance. “I thought you’d like it.” He says quietly. He takes a deep breath and even from where Tangmo is sitting he hears the shake in it. “It’s late, I’m going to take a shower.” Vier stands up, grabs a towel from a pile near his bed, and leaves the room without another word. 

Tangmo flops back on his mattress, throwing the loose blanket over his face. _“What the hell was that?”_

**Author's Note:**

> >   
>  _Hang on to the good days  
>  I can lean on my friends  
> They help me going through hard times  
> But I'm feeding the enemy  
> I'm in league with the foe  
> Blame me for what's happening  
> I can't try, I can't try, I can't try..._   
> 
> 
> **  
>  _-Phoenix,_   
>  **_If I Ever Feel Better_
> 
> Sorry it's sad.
> 
> Realistically, it was sadder but I cut half a scene out so you're welcome, I guess.


End file.
